Sinosplice is a name I came up with to suggest a union—a connection—free of true full integration. The purpose of the site is to provide a peek into the life of an American attempting to integrate himself, somewhat, into Chinese society. In this day and age, a tall white American simply cannot truly integrate into Chinese society. I simply stand out too much, and this society is still very much homogeneous (at least in the sense that almost everyone has Asian features). Nevertheless, I try to understand the culture, I try to master the language, I try to make the most of any disadvantages I find to living in China. Then I try to pass on to Sinosplice visitors some of what I have gained.

My site is different from the sites of many other teachers living in China or doing JET in Japan because I'm actually here for the long haul, with the goal of high fluency in Mandarin Chinese. If you have not lived overseas in a non-English-speaking country, it may be hard to understand the world of difference fluency in the language makes. Language is key to cultural understanding. One can simply never get the clearest view of a house looking through the dirty window or observing what comes out of the house. You have to go in. Language is the key.

Sinosplice 1.0 was launched April 30, 2002 as sort of a "public diary" for friends and family to replace the mass e-mails I had been sending. I soon became aware that I was a part of a fledgling expat China blog community, and I started the China Blog List, which continues to expand today. With the launch of Sinosplice 2.0 in April, the year 2003 saw the genesis of the Sinosplice Network, my effort to support the foreign China blogging community by sharing some of my server space. While teaching English has been an interest of mine for years (see Teaching in China: A Guide for the Uninitiated), I'm even more interested in Chinese pedagogy. See Sinosplice's language section for some of my efforts there. I hope to further develop Sinosplice in that direction in the future.

So I hope that my site can provide you with some understanding of China and the Chinese language that other sites cannot. I won't deny that it's also a personal site, but let's face it—being in China is a big part of who I am now, and any view I present of China here is inextricably tied to who I am as well.

Enjoy.

I currently live right in the middle of Shanghai, mainland China's biggest city. I work for ChinesePod, a website which teaches Chinese through podcasting and other innovative online methods. I am a co-host for the Intermediate and Upper Intermediate levels, as well as the Academic Director. I oversee the production of all academic materials at ChinesePod.

For my first three and a half years in China I lived in Hangzhou, China, teaching English to college students at ZUCC (Zheijiang University City College). During the Fall 2003 semester I studied Chinese formally as a foreign student in preparation for the HSK, at Zhejiang University of Technology. I took the HSK in December and moved to Shanghai in January of 2004.

I am originally from Brandon, Florida (a suburb of Tampa), and am a graduate of the University of Florida (Gainesville), where I majored in Japanese Language and Literature. At UF, I also studied some Mandarin Chinese, and minored in Latin American Studies as well as Teaching English as a Second Language. My main interest is Second Language Acquisition (SLA). I started a masters program in Applied Linguistics fall of 2005 at East China Normal University.

I have been living in China for 7.7 years now, and am staying indefinitely. I never regret my decision to come to China after graduating from university. It's amazing what you can learn living in a foreign country.